ICU (updates..click comments)

It’s a real privilege that Keloland allows me this space on the website to share some of my thoughts and memories with you.
I hadn’t planned on it being used for daily updates on my mother-in-law’s condition but so many people have indicated that they keep checking the blog for news.
Many of you don’t even know Mother Mary but are pulling for her recovery just the same.
She has remained unconscious since arriving here by air ambulance Sunday morning.
At first she was diagnosed with shingles..then possibly West Nile Virus..now it appears it was dehydration and extremely low sodium which brought on what doctors describe as “a very sick heart.”
She remains in the ICU filled with tubes and hooked up to monitors.
It’s to the point now that if Mary makes the slightest movement, the family gets excited..only to be disappointed again when her sodium level goes down or blood pressure fluctuates. Emotional roller coaster comes to mind.
The whole family will be here Friday.
As much as Mary loves having her kids around, that, if nothing else, could wake her up because she’d hate to miss it.
Despite everything, there are moments of levity in this depressing place.

On that first day, there was a huge basket filled with chips and Cheetos and Cracker Jack sitting on the waiting room table. None of us had eaten and helped ourselves to about ten bags of treats. We all figured it was left there by some caring volunteer only to find out that it actually belonged to a family from near Mobridge.
The Mobridge people had a good laugh over it but I noticed they’ve been keeping a closer eye on all their belongings when we’re around.
We got paybacks yesterday, though, when our daughter brought up hot sandwiches, baked beans and pickles for lunch.
She left it in on the vending room table and everybody in both waiting rooms, including the Mobridge bunch, helped themselves…..no doubt surprised at the hospital’s generous gesture.
But, like the loaves and fishes at the Sermon on the Mount, the barbeque and beans seemed to multiply and there was plenty to go around.
It doesn’t take much to entertain us as the wait goes on.
The family has been reading all your comments and wanted me to say how grateful they are for the amazing concern from friends and strangers.